The budget-priced Element Fire TV Edition is the first 4K television to integrate Amazon's media streaming platform, but picture quality is just average.

We've seen Roku TVs before, but Amazon Fire TVs are new. Rather, televisions with the Amazon Fire TV platform integrated are new. Amazon's Fire TV media streamer has been around for a few years, and now Element Electronics has incorporated that technology directly into its latest TV. At $649.99 for the 55-inch model we tested, it's certainly a wallet-friendly way to get a connected 4K television. But it lacks HDR, and its performance simply doesn't compare with our Editors' Choice, the Roku TV-based TCL P-series, whose 55-inch model is the same price.

Editors' Note: This review is based on testing performed on the Element 55-Inch Amazon Fire TV Edition, a $649.99, 55-inch Element-branded model. Westinghouse Amazon Fire TV Editions are identical to Element Fire TV Editions in all characteristics aside from branding. Outside of the screen size difference we expect the $549.99 Westinghouse 50-Inch Amazon Fire TV Edition to have similar performance.

Design

The Element favors dark gray over the typical black design of most TVs, with a flat, gunmetal-colored plastic bezel that measures just a quarter of an inch on the sides and top, and half an inch on the bottom of the screen. A notable bump in the middle of the bottom bezel holds the Element logo. The TV sits securely on a pair of thin, V-shaped metal legs.

A small four-direction joystick sits on the lower right corner of the back of the TV, letting you navigate the Amazon Fire TV menu system (though the included remote is of course much easier to use). A few inches further in from the edge of the TV, four HDMI ports, a USB 2.0 port, a USB 3.0 port, and an SD card slot face right. An Ethernet port, antenna/cable connector, component and composite video inputs, optical audio output, and 3.5mm headphone jack face down, from the same section of panel as the other ports.

Voice Remote and Alexa

The included remote holds an Element logo, but will otherwise be familiar to Amazon Fire TV device users. It's a slim, 6.3-inch wand with a prominent, circular navigation pad flanked by menu and playback controls. The power button and microphone button sit above the pad, along with a hole for the built-in microphone. Pressing the microphone button lets you use voice search or the TV's Alexa features. A volume rocker and three dedicated service buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Amazon Music sit below the direction pad. The remote connects wirelessly to the TV, letting you control everything without pointing at the screen.

As an Amazon Fire TV device, the Element also features Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, which you can use by pressing the microphone button on the Voice Remote and speaking into it. You can ask Alexa to tell you about upcoming appointments, the weather, and even order items from Amazon. Alexa's voice search feature also lets you bring up content from Amazon Video and Prime Music using your voice. If you have smart home devices that are compatible with Alexa, you can also control them using the remote. TV controls are available through Alexa as well, letting you change inputs or adjust the volume using your voice.

Amazon Fire TV

We've seen the Fire TV interface in a variety of Amazon-made media streamers like the Fire TV and the Fire TV Stick, but this is the first time we've seen it built right into a television. It's a similar execution to the Roku TV platform, taking a familiar menu system and installing it directly, with a handful of additional menus and connection options for accessing TV-specific features not used in media streamers.

If you've used an Amazon Fire TV device before, the Element's interface will be easy to pick up. Apps, services, and connections are displayed as large tiles arranged in a series of rows including Recent, Your Apps & Games, Inputs, and On Now.

Recent and Your Apps & Games are standard lists for Fire TV streamers, providing easy access to your favorite apps and content. All the big streaming names you can use on a Fire TV device are available here, including Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, YouTube, and of course all Amazon content. The Fire TV platform is almost as robust as Roku's, with hundreds of apps and services. Because the system is based on Android, you can sideload your own APKs if you can't find what you want in the Fire TV App Store. Don't count on sideloaded apps to work reliably, though; most Android APKs are designed for touch-screen use, and won't function properly on a TV.

On Now and Inputs are TV-specific. On Now shows you what live TV is currently available over the air or through your ClearQAM Cable connection. We plugged in an OTA antenna and picked up a few dozen channels, some in high-definition. We tested in Manhattan, and the channels available in your area might greatly differ. The Inputs row simply lets you access the HDMI, component, or composite video inputs, along with any OTA/cable programming available.

Pressing the Home button on the remote takes you to the Element's Fire TV main menu, letting you access connected features and media. Holding the Home button for a moment pops up a more TV-specific side menu. This lets you access a conventional program guide for live television and change display settings; the Settings tab in the main menu is only for Fire TV settings like network information and firmware updates. It lets you access display settings quickly, but like Roku TVs, the actual picture settings you can work with on the Element feel a bit sparse. You can make basic adjustments like brightness, contrast, and choose from one of three color temperature presets, but beyond that there are no deep calibration options.

Performance

We test TVs using a DVDO AVLab 4K test pattern generator, a Klein K-10A colorimeter, and Portrait Displays' CalMAN 5 software on a Razer Blade Pro notebook. After a basic dark room calibration adjusting brightness and contrast using PLUGE charts, the Element showed a good 344.03cd/m2 peak brightness and a middling 0.07cd/m2 black level for a 4,915:1 contrast ratio. This is solid performance for a budget television, but the TCL 55P607 blows it out of the water with a 507.85cd/m2 peak brightness and 0.02cd/m2 black level for a contrast ratio over five times greater. And unlike the TCL, the Element doesn't support HDR.

The chart above shows Rec. 709 color values as boxes and measured color levels as dots using the warmest color temperature preset. The TV can reach a bit further past standard color levels with greens, but its whites skew slightly green and reds are a bit undersaturated and yellowed. The TCL 55P607 reaches well past the standard color gamut while keeping colors much more accurate than the Element. The LeEco Super4 X55 also shows a far wider range of color while remaining accurate, with contrast levels similar to the Element's.

Planet Earth II on Ultra HD Blu-ray looks very good on the Element despite its lack of HDR. Apart from panning sky shots that catch the sun, the scenes don't look particularly bright, but shadow details remain intact in the shade and you can catch fine textures of dark fur and feathers. The TV's slightly greater reach into greens makes the lush jungle pop out, and the browns and grays of the ground and blues of the sky look balanced and vivid.

The slightly undersaturated reds of the Element are apparent on Deadpool on Ultra HD Blu-ray. Deadpool's red costume looks natural but not particularly vivid, and the red plaid of Wade's sherpa jacket at the beginning of the movie appears slightly drab. Skin tones also look just slightly yellow-red under warm lights in indoor scenes, though they generally appear natural in most other lighting conditions.

The Great Gatsby on Ultra HD Blu-ray further highlights the Element's minor color accuracy issues and shows off the TV's mediocre black level. Skin tones occasionally skew slightly pink or yellow depending on the scene, appearing natural only about half the time. In high-contrast scenes with lots of shadow, the general contours of the black suits can be seen, but the texture of the fabric and the individual cuts and creases are sometimes lost in muddy blackness. The tinting isn't overwhelming, and the shadows aren't overly muddy, but it isn't quite as nice a picture as it could be.

Input Lag and Power Consumption

Input lag is the amount of time between a TV receiving a signal and the display updating. In the Custom picture mode, the Element shows a high 70.7ms input lag. The PC/Game picture mode doesn't do much to help, displaying a 70ms input lag. The LeEco's Game picture mode shows half as much input lag at 36.7ms, while the TCL's halves that again to 15.1ms.

Under normal viewing conditions, the 55-inch Element consumes 125 watts, and has no power-saving picture modes or settings to speak of. This is in line with both the TCL and LeEco's calibrated picture settings. You can manually turn the backlight down to 70 percent to reduce the power consumption to 83 watts, darkening the screen slightly but keeping it very watchable.

Conclusions

Element's Amazon Fire TV Edition offers 4K resolution and all of the benefits of an Amazon Fire TV media streamer, including a microphone-equipped remote that lets you use Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, all at a very reasonable price. However, the Roku TV-based TCL P-series simply has a far better picture for the same price, and that's one of the most important things to consider when shopping for a TV. The Element is by no means a bad option, but the TCL is a better buy, and remains our Editors' Choice.

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About the Author

Will Greenwald has been covering consumer technology for a decade, and has served on the editorial staffs of CNET.com, Sound & Vision, and Maximum PC. His work and analysis has been seen in GamePro, Tested.com, Geek.com, and several other publications. He currently covers consumer electronics in the PC Labs as the in-house home entertainment expert... See Full Bio

Westinghouse 50-Inch Amazon Fire TV Edition

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